I am helping a new to riding buddy find a bike that is less than 2K. I am having a hard time finding anything better than the Kestrel Talon Ultegra 2007 at Greenfish for $1799. Is there anything else that I should look at.
http://www.greenfishsports.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1891
Thanks in advance.
One to consider, especially if your buddy does a lot of climbing, is the Scott CR-1 Team. It can be had for about $2000 new. For that price, it won’t be spec’d as nicely as the Talon, but he’d be getting an extremely light carbon frame that he could always make upgrades to. And yeah, that is Shimano 105s on the CR-1. BUT, it weighs 17.4 pounds with the 105s.
Again, one I’d suggest looking at if he does a lot of mountain riding…
I recently purchased a Kestrel Talon and have to say it’s a really great bike. I love the way it handles high speed decents and it rides very smooth. Kestrel knows carbon and it’s amazing that they can offer a full carbon aero frame bike for that price. I give it very high marks and strongly recommend it to anybody who is considering buying one. I considered a Cervelo Soloist but the carbon version was out of my budget and after selling my aluminium P2K, I couldn’t bring myself back to riding another aluminium frame Cervelo like the Soloist Team.
what he said
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you should change your name - kestrelguy
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perhaps look at the specialized roubiux or the tarmac. both great bikes and can be had for that magical price. I have a Tarmac comp and love it.
I have been riding a Talon for about 6 years. I really like it! Smooth, fast and durable.
One thing to keep in mind about the Talons is that they’re a bloody pain to work on, if you care about that. All of the internal cable routing makes it a pain to change out cables - especially the front derailleur, since you have to take the crank and derailleur off to get to it. That and I find they don’t shift as well as other bikes with all of the tight bends with cables inside of housing.
I’ve never ridden one, but a lot of my friends have them so I’ve worked on probably 8 different ones and I find I really dread it when someone brings one in for an overhaul…
J
more so than other bikes w/internal cables?
i’m thinking that i’ve heard similar things about gurus, for instance. (just based on memory, not actual experience, if i’m wrong i’m wrong).
worse than the Cervelos I’ve worked on, exactly identical to the QR lucero I saw a while ago - to the point that I bet they’re made in the same factory/from the same designer/used the same molds… I’m not kidding, the cable routing on the QR lucero and the Kestrel Talon bikes are identical, down to the same little brass stops in the frame. I’ve never done cable replacement on a Guru.
It’s the little bits of cable housing that curve up to the front derailleur and take the rear cable from the BB to the chainstay that are the problem. The bends are too tight and there’s a lot of cable drag. plus, as I mentioned the front derailleur cable is an absolute pain to get to. And it’s orientation makes it a recepticle for all sorts of sticky energy drink residue.
I work on bikes for friends and club mates for cheap on the side (i.e. not my real job) and I charge a $10 extra for Talons. When I’m charging $15/hour (like i said, not my real job) that’s a chunk of the bill.
J
One thing to keep in mind about the Talons is that they’re a bloody pain to work on, if you care about that. All of the internal cable routing makes it a pain to change out cables - especially the front derailleur, since you have to take the crank and derailleur off to get to it. That and I find they don’t shift as well as other bikes with all of the tight bends with cables inside of housing.
I’ve never ridden one, but a lot of my friends have them so I’ve worked on probably 8 different ones and I find I really dread it when someone brings one in for an overhaul…
J
I can change the cables on a Talon in no time at all, without removing the bottom bracket. Just tape the old cables to fishing string and pull it through. Then do the reverse for the new cables. I have done this maybe 4 times now. It does not take much more time than external cables. Bike shifts great too. No problems.
Bought one on Friday. Took it out for 100k on Saturday. Felt great. I plan on keeping in the road set up until June of nexyt year, then I’ll slap some aero bars on it for IMMOO training. I really wanted the soloist team, but couldn’t do it when this was sitting right next to it.
" I can change the cables on a Talon in no time at all, without removing the bottom bracket. Just tape the old cables to fishing string and pull it through. Then do the reverse for the new cables. I have done this maybe 4 times now. It does not take much more time than external cables. Bike shifts great too. No problems. "
I’m impressed if you can change the front derailleur housing without taking the crank and derailleur off. How do you do it? fishing the cables through the frame is no problem, provided you use an old section of housing or something to guide it in. But even doing that it still takes more time than an external routed frame. Annoying. And it may shift fine, but it’s not as crisp as it would be with better routing.
J
Jam
I just use fishing string to pull the cable through. No need to remove the bottom bracket. The fishing string will pull it around the bottom bracket no problem. The only extra time is taping the string to the cables, which is not too hard. In fact, the first time I did it, I accidentally pulled the string through and had to push the cable through and hope it came out of the hole. With some work, it did. I really have not had that much trouble changing the cables. Try the fishing string thing next time and you will be surprised at how much easier it is, even for the front derailer.
Shifting has been fine. I have not noticed any difference from my other bike.
My Cervelo was easier for the cable routing, but I don’t know why bike mechanics don’t understand Talons. My mechanic hated them until I told him about the fishing line trick.
It shifts the same as any other bike.